Happiness of Roepke vs Efficiency of Mises

Caleb Stegall...

In 1947, two titans of 20th-century economic theory, Ludwig von Mises and Wilhelm Roepke, met in Roepke’s home of Geneva, Switzerland. During the war, the Genevan fathers coped with shortages by providing citizens with small garden allotments outside the city for growing vegtables. These citizen gardens became so popular with the people of Geneva that the practice was continued even after the war and the return to abundance. Roepke was particularly proud of these citizen farmers, and so he took Mises on a tour of the gardens. “A very inefficient way of producing foodstuffs!” Mises noted disapprovingly. “Perhaps so, but a very efficient way of producing human happiness” was Roepke’s rejoinder.

From Stegall's article Price, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

Wilhelm Roepke

Ludwig Von Mises